Calls placed over wireless telecommunications facilities often involve charges incurred by both the calling party and the called party. The calling party incurs conventional telecommunications charges (e.g., toll charges) associated with the call, as well as so-called "airtime" charges when the calling party originates the call over wireless communications facilities (e.g., a cellular telephone). The called party also will incur airtime charges when using wireless communications facilities, even though the called party did not originate the call. These airtime charges lead people with wireless communications devices to turn off their equipment to avoid paying charges for unwanted calls. Also, prospective callers may feel inhibited to call a wireless telephone number, knowing that the called party will also be charged for the call. This reduces the utility of having the wireless communications device in the first place.
One way to increase the use of wireless telecommunications facilities is to provide a mechanism for billing the calling party for charges associated with the called party's use of the wireless facilities. However, there are several problems associated with such a billing arrangement. For example, the communications system must provide a mechanism for billing the calling party for airtime instead of billing the called party. It is possible to allow normal billing to occur and to change the billing during a billing cycle using "back-end record matching." However, this process would require expensive modifications to cellular billing systems and is prone to error and fraud.